a love story, in reverse
by songs
Summary: It begins with: "I won't forget you, Uchiha Sasuke." — ო sasusaku.


**title: **a love story, in reverse

**pairing:** sasuke ო sakura. AU.

**disclaimer: **i own nothing.

**notes: **this is an old story i touched up and am republishing after taking down. hope you still enjoy :)

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a_ love story in reverse is still a love story._

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XV.

Sasuke kisses her once, hard on the mouth.

And then he turns to leave.

There are butterflies in her stomach and fairies in her feet and Sakura yells to his back: "I won't forget you, Uchiha Sasuke."

He stops, but doesn't turn around to face her. And then, so softly, so quietly that she might've imagined it, she hears,

"Thank you, Sakura."

XIV.

Sakura invites him in, and he accepts, and doesn't complain when she cleans the blood off of his face with a warm washcloth.

"Did you find him?" she asks, because she knows that much.

She feels him stiffen, but he relents, "No."

Sakura knows what comes next, "You're not coming back this time."

He says nothing.

XIII.

She has just parted ways with Ino on their way home, and the last thing she expects to see is Uchiha Sasuke on her doorstep, with blood coating him to the bones.

The minute he catches sight of her, he stands, moving towards her.

Her eyes are heavy, like in a dream, and her voice goes brittle as she forgets to breathe, "S-Sasuke..."

"I'm sorry," he says gruffly, and her eyes bulge. If she knows anything about him, Sasuke doesn't apologize easily.

"You should be," she murmurs. "You just...vanished. I was..." she hiccuped, and to her shame, she felt tears stinging her eyes. "I was so scared. Worried."

He sighs at that, and she can't help but feel strange at how _open _he's being, like all of the emotion inside of him has finally decided to surface. "I'm not used to people worrying."

The tears fall, and she whispers, "It doesn't have to be like that."

"...It does, Sakura."

XIV.

"It's nothing to be depressed over," Ino tells her during one of their slumber parties. "He had issues, Sakura, I'm glad he didn't drag you down with him. I say, good riddance!" and then, because it's _Ino, _she tacks on, "Even though he was pretty cute."

Sakura smiles sadly, snuggling beneath the covers of her sleeping bag. "I think I'm going to sleep, now. Goodnight."

"Sak—oh, fine. Goodnight."

XIII.

She asks the principal for his address or phone number or _something. _She pleads and begs and Tsunade finally relents, giving her a slip of paper with all of his details.

The number is dead. The apartment is abandoned.

It's like he hadn't even existed.

XII.

It doesn't feel like a goodbye, so she doesn't treat it like one.

He doesn't come back, though. For months, she waits, and they are at June's heels when she decides that maybe the last time she would ever see him was back in that Biology class in the spring.

XI.

"Probably chasing after his brother."

"Scum, that whole family is just scum, blood and killing and—"

"Hope he never comes back."

"Who _doesn't_?"

"That Sakura girl."

"Oh, her, she just falls in love too easily—"

X.

He doesn't come to school for one week.

IX.

When they are partnered up for a lab in AP biology, she notices how he distances himself, how his mind goes elsewhere.

"Sasuke," she says gently, tapping his shoulder. "Can you put the euglena samples between those glass slides? I'll work with the stentors and amoebas..."

Sasuke nods, and doesn't flinch from her touch, which she decides is improvement. He is done in a matter of minutes, and places the slide on the stage of their shared microscope.

"Thanks." She smiles, opening her notebook to a new page. She is about to take down the notes when she hears Sasuke swear under his breath and pull out his phone. She is half-ready to chide him, but his eyes go wide as he looks down at the screen and he bolts upwards. He begins to weave through the maze of the class, apologizes as he knocks into chairs in a rare display of gracelessness, and slips right out the door.

Their professor, Gai, calls after him, panicky, jabbering on about youth and school and—

Sakura remains still in her seat.

VIII.

"So, I heard Sakura-chan is hanging around with that bastard!" Naruto grins, clapping her on the back. "I don't know how you do it, every time I try to talk to him, he gives me this death glare."

"Maybe it's because you're _annoying," _she teases playfully, smiling at her best friend. "And don't call him that. He's really not that bad."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Sakura smiles ruefully at that as they skim the hallways. They are about to turn to where her locker is, when she spots _him_ from the corner of her eye.

"I've got to go," she tells Naruto hurriedly, sprinting towards the other boy.

She doesn't hear his muffled, almost-bitter, "I know."

VII.

"Do you have any dreams?"

"One."

"Want to tell me?"

"...No."

VI.

Nobody sits next to him at lunch. The whispers are enough to keep anyone away, and Sakura feels something hard settle in the pit of her stomach.

Sakura picks up her lunch-tray, an apology in the apple-green of her eyes as she turns to Ino, "I'll be back," she says, and Ino pops her glossy lips in response.

"You're too nice, Sakura," she admonishes, staring down at her nails.

"Maybe," she responds, walking towards him.

V.

Sakura dips the cotton into the antiseptic, warning laced into her tone, "This might hurt."

"Hn," is all she gets as a response, so, delicately, she presses the swab against the scarlet spot just above his eyelid, ignoring his low hiss.

"If I don't do this it'll get infected," she says flatly, and continues to clean the cut. "Ooh, don't move, I'll get it in you're eye—okay! Okay, I'm done. You're good to go."

He grunts noncommittally, which she takes as thanks, before standing; she supposes he had taken her words literally because he heads towards the front-door of her house.

She springs up, moving quickly after him, "Wait!" he doesn't seem to hear, so she calls again, "Sasuke, wait!"

He stops, piano-fingers grazing the doorknob, and Sakura finds herself an arms-length away from him, and silently thanks the gods that her parents aren't home. "Um," and then, because the gods decide that she can't have _all _of the luck, she blurts, "I'm Haruno Sakura."

He blinks at her, long and hard, before he smirks in what must be amusement. "I knew that already."

It was her turn to blink; she felt her cheeks go hot and looked away. All she can manage is, "Oh."

She hears the doorknob turn, but no footsteps, and so she waits for him to leave, feeling oddly giddy and disappointed at the same time.

"Sakura." A beat passes, and she hears the door close, and a faint, "Thank you."

She looks up instantly, eyes wide and heart hammering, but he is already gone.

IV.

"Are you sure you're okay? I can't believe they did this to you!"

"I'm _fine,_" he grits out, for what must be the hundredth time, but Sakura is not _blind. _She sees the blooms of red and purple knotting over the pale, map of his face, the way his right eye isn't opening all the way.

"No, you're not. You're bleeding," she says firmly, but he doesn't respond, and instead continues to walk ahead of her.

From what she's heard, he lives alone. He probably doesn't know how to take care of himself and mend injuries; he's a guy, after all, but then again, the stories from school say he gets in trouble a lot, so maybe she is wrong. Feeling foolish, she tries to shake the gossip from her mind, but she can't stifle the curiosity.

"Hey, Sasuke?" she asks, quickening her pace so that they are side by side. He's nearly a head taller than her, and she suddenly feels very small when she notices his gaze slide down to her level, for a split-second. "Why didn't you hit those guys back?"

At his silence, she narrows her eyes into starry slits, placing her hand on the bony dip of his elbow and persisting, "From what I've heard, I'm sure you could've taken them—"

He goes rigid all over, jerking away from her touch and turning to her, his fingers latching around the wisp of her forearm.

"You don't know _anything _about me." He looks like he wants to say more, but instead he drops her arm and begins to walk away.

"I..." She blinks at his retreating form, at a loss for words, before following, anger in her tone. "I didn't mean it like that! I'm not saying I know you—or that I even believe what those rumors say. I'm sorry, okay, I just wanted to _help_."

Sasuke doesn't stop, and his words are sharp, "I don't need pity."

Sakura almost screams. Almost. "You're _impossible_. It's not pity. It's called being a good person. It's called doing the right thing. It's called—"

She stops abruptly, and is surprised when he does, too, staring at her with an unreadable look in his dark, dark eyes.

"What?" he snaps, but his tone is softer than before.

She swallows, suddenly nervous. "My house is just that way...if you want, I can help clean up your face." repeating the words in her mind, she backtracks quickly, "Um, um, not like it looks bad or anything. It's just... um, I want to be a doctor, and it'd be good practice, and you are kind of hurt, and, er—"

"Fine," he cuts her off, and then a moment later, he adds a gruff. "Thanks."

III.

She is walking home when she sees him, splayed against the brickstone wall of some random apartment building, two other boys towering over him, one with a fist rung around his collar.

"Did you hear me?" snarls one of them, slamming the back of his head against the wall. "I said _get out of this town_. We don't need the likes of you hear."

Sasuke says nothing, does nothing, only stares up at the boy with cold, bruise-black eyes, ignoring the blood trickling from his temple down the curve of his jaw.

This only aggravates them further, and the boy who has him by the throat raises a blunt fist, his eyes wild—

Before Sakura can even recognize what she is doing, she steps into their line of vision, yelling:

"Stop!"

II.

There is talk:

"Apparently, when they were kids, his brother murdered their parents."

"That's horrible..."

"Yeah. Now he's out for revenge."

"He doesn't stay in one place for long. Bounces around different cities and districts, looking for leads on his brother."

"They say he stabbed a guy who got in his way, once."

"That Uchiha just isn't stable."

"He'll be gone soon—"

I.

Sakura is doodling wishing-stars in the margin of her notebook when her homeroom teacher clears his throat, signaling for the class's attention. She looks up, gel-pen poised in her grasp, as a boy, tall with dark hair and dark eyes, trudges to the center of the classroom, bird-boned hands deep in his pockets. His eyes are blank, save for the glimmer of blue in the inky black.

"Uh, well." Kakashi drawls, completely uninterested in his job. "I guess we have a new student. This is Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke, in turn, grunts, moving to the empty seat in the back of the classroom.

Sakura stares at his back, and wonders.


End file.
